So I think I was late to the game on this one. Apparently it was a tiktok sensation or something. I’m not on tiktok, so I had no idea. I went to read some reviews after I finished it and was surprised to see that it had been out for a while and had lots of reviews. My BFF Connie recommended it to my sister and I at the end of last year. I love Connie so much, but she tends to suggest “sad person has horrible things happen to them and their life is endlessly sad” books to me. I tried to read Cilka’s Choice (or Journey?) last year and I was literally crying uncontrollably while listening to the audiobook. I never finished that one. So what I’m saying is – you never know what you’re going to get in a Connie recommended book! This one I freaking loved though. I’m a sucker for a good premise, and I feel like that’s what lets me down frequently, because I’ll get sucked into the idea of a book, but then the story doesn’t deliver. This one had a cool premise, and it definitely delivered.
It follows eight specific people through a period of their lives where everyone 24 or older gets a box one day with a string that is “the measure” of their life. Some people have short strings and some have long strings. Lots of experiments and research is done on the strings, and it turns out that the “short stringers” actually do live shorter lives.
You can imagine how the world handles this (hint – not well). There are sympathetic people of course, and support groups, but there are also the assholes who see “short stringers” as dangerous and unstable. I really really loved this book. I laughed and cried and lived along with these people. Their lives and stories connected in the most touching ways. I absolutely recommend this book. Fun fact – my sister did not like it at all! She thought it was too political. She’s not into politics at all though, so it was just too much for her.
My rating: 5 stars